They say it’s better not to meet your heroes. Usually that’s because the fear is that they might disappoint you. However, when The Beatles met Elvis in 1964, that wasn’t necessarily the case. According to Priscilla Presley, the whole thing was just plain awkward.
“There was talk about The Beatles coming to the States in ’64, and Brian Epstein, knowing how much The Beatles idolized Elvis, admired him, got a hold of Colonel Parker just to see if there was any kind of arrangement that could be made,” Priscilla explained of the meeting.
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“The guys [The Beatles] didn’t want to show too much excitement because, you know, of course, this is Elvis,” she continued. “You could hear a pin drop when they walked in, you know, they looked around the room, they came in.”
When Elvis stood up to say hello, Priscilla recalls that he was actually met with silence from the boys. Elvis was their idol, and they were just in “shock.” John Lennon, Presley explained, was particularly shy around the King. Having endured the interaction for long enough, Elvis apparently grabbed his bass guitar and started playing in front of his nervous fans.
Priscilla did share that, although at first the meeting had a bit of a rough go, by the end of the evening things had “lightened up.” She even admitted that the whole situation probably made Elvis think highly of the British band.
“I think Elvis walked away from that, you know, thinking that these were good kids,” she shared.
How Big Were The Beatles Exactly?
Many people talk about the Beatles now like they were just another boy band. But the truth is, this group made music history; they still hold records that haven’t been broken to this day.
As of now, the Beatles have more No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 than any other artist. Modern singers like Taylor Swift, who has 13, have yet to come close. The majority of these No. 1s were also achieved within a six-year period, from 1964 to 1970.
In 1995, the group’s Rolling Stones rival Mick Jagger even spoke of the group’s insane success. “The Beatles were so big that it’s hard for people not alive at the time to realize just how big they were. There isn’t a real comparison with anyone now. I suppose Michael Jackson at one point, but it still doesn’t quite seem the same,” he continued. “They were this forerunning, breakthrough item, and that’s hard to overestimate.”
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